Daytime Nap Has Benefits Beyond Rest for Kids

MONDAY June 8, 2009 -- Children's nap time is not only beneficial to caregivers who may need a break. For children aged 4 to 5 years, taking a nap during the day may help reduce hyperactivity, anxiety and depression, new study findings show.

In the study of 62 children categorized as either napping (77 percent) or non-napping (23 percent), researchers found that those who didn't take daytime naps had higher levels of anxiety, hyperactivity and depression.

The study findings were presented June 8 at the annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, in Seattle.

Children who took naps did so an average of 3.4 days a week, the researchers found. The study data was based on the parents' or caregivers' reporting of the children's typical weekday and weekend bedtime/wake time and napping patterns. Family demographics and behavioral assessments of the children were also included in the analysis.

"There is a lot of individual variability in [the age] when children are ready to give up naps. I would encourage parents to include a quiet 'rest' time in their daily schedule that would allow children to nap if necessary," lead author Brian Crosby, a postdoctoral fellow of psychology at Pennsylvania State University, said in a news release from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

An optimal age for children to stop napping hasn't yet been determined, Crosby noted.

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